


Close Encounters

by Stacysmash



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alien AU, Alternate Universe - Aliens, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Awkward situations, Eventual Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Foul Language, Humor, Licking, M/M, Magic and Science, More characters to be added, More ships to be added, Rating may go up, Romance, Science Fiction, Suspense, bit of a soulmate vibe, magical mishap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-04-23 18:16:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19156342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stacysmash/pseuds/Stacysmash
Summary: Yahaba is the assistant to Oikawa Tooru, brilliant professor and researcher who has a ground-breaking theory of the correlation between magical energy and planetary shifts within their galaxy. When they set out to test the theory, they get more than they bargain for with a real alien encounter.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yikescaninot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yikescaninot/gifts).



Yahaba yawned and rubbed his eyes, warding off any sleepiness before he received another lecture from Oikawa. He had tried grabbing a few hours of sleep during the day, but it wasn’t easy changing his schedule on a whim. The illustrious professor hadn’t noticed thankfully as he chattered on, kicking sand into the air from his constant scurrying around the beach.

“Are you sure we’re allowed to be out here?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder. It was the off-season for tourists, the lapping waves still too cold from the remnants of winter. Even without another soul in sight, Yahaba still couldn’t shake the feeling of impending doom.

“This is a public beach! We can be here if we want.”

“But aren’t there laws against this?”

Oikawa stopped messing with his equipment and glanced over his shoulder at Yahaba with an incredulous look. “Against what? Use of magic? Science? Preposterous!”

“There are laws against certain types of magic and certain methods of science, Oikawa-san.”

“And you think I don’t know the laws? Trust me! No one has ever mixed magic and science in this way!”

Yahaba winced as Oikawa perked up while he focused back to his equipment. “That’s what I was afraid of,” he muttered, but he obediently shuffled after Oikawa to help. It was his job after all. Most individuals had the training for either magic use or for science, and one’s education was usually geared toward their prospective job. Everyone knew the basics of both and could utilize them in their everyday lives.

Oikawa Tooru was unique in that he had extensive training in both. His mother was a scientist who specialized in Galactic Astronomy and his father was a gifted wizard who was born with an acute sensitivity to nature and the energy that could be drawn from it. Both parents tried to influence their children to follow their own career paths, turning it into a friendly competition.

Oikawa’s older sister rebelled against both and decided to go into politics. Oikawa used both to his advantage and became an Astrophysicist who researched the correlation of the magical energy drawn from the Earth and the ever-shifting galaxy above. It was his belief that planetary shifts and the position of the moon had a direct effect on magical energy. Most of Oikawa’s career had been spent collecting the data to support his theory.

It was one of his books on the subject that first drew Yahaba’s interest as an undergrad and eventually led him into the graduate program at the university Oikawa taught at. Of course, with his charm and good looks, Oikawa was quite a popular professor. There was tough competition to get into his program, but Oikawa had a keen eye for real potential. He took to Yahaba immediately and named him his official protege.

It wasn’t easy, chasing after Oikawa and his hair-brained schemes and experiments, but to Yahaba it was worth it. He knew Oikawa was onto something one night soon after he started his job as an assistant, standing in a forest clearing during the autumn solstice as a blood moon rose up in the sky. Watching the moon climb above them, red light creeping eerily across its pale visage, Yahaba could feel the chilly air warm and crackle around him as spiritual energy rose from the earth.

He had never been particularly gifted with magic, but he felt like he could have performed the most complicated spell with ease at that moment. It was as if the air was more tactile, stroking across his skin like a gentle fingertip and leaving a slight burning sensation in its wake. What he remembered most was the look of pure, innocent joy on Oikawa’s face, scribbling in his notebook as the moon shaded him in rosy light. In his past, Yahaba had more ambitions for his career, but witnessing the incredible discoveries from Oikawa’s research made him toss all those ambitions out the window. What were they compared to the experience of delving into the greatest mysteries of the galaxy?

“Yahaba! Start carving out the symbols in the sand, will you?”

“Me?! What if I get one wrong?”

“Relax, I’ll check it before the time is right! Besides, I have every faith in you.”

Yahaba was relieved there was hardly any light and Oikawa was busy; he was certain his cheeks were flushed bright red. He was pleased receiving such compliments from anyone, but it was another thing entirely to have one from someone as prestigious as Oikawa. Even more than that, to have Oikawa’s trust instilled more determination than ever to not let his mentor down.

He snatched up an old broom to sweep away their footprints, giving him a clean slate to work with. Once the area was clear, he traded the broom for a piece of sharp driftwood they had found, hardly ideal for carving intricate symbols but they had been in a hurry when they left. With both hands, he scraped the wood into the sand, ignoring Oikawa as he talked to himself and tinkered with his equipment.

Yahaba wasn’t even finished yet when he noticed a faint, green light flickering in the symbols he had already finished. The dune behind them had a chorus of crickets embedded amongst the tall grass, but with every stroke of his driftwood, they quieted to eventual silence. Even Oikawa had, at last, stopped talking as he peeked over Yahaba’s shoulder.

“See? It’s perfect! We’re feeling the effects already.”

“What do you think is going to happen? I mean, I know once the planets shift in alignment there will be a boost in magical energy, but what will that even look like?”

“Not just a boost; a _cosmic_ boost! It’s going to be nothing anyone has ever experienced and even I can’t know for sure what’s about to happen.”

Yahaba finished the final symbol with another rush of foreboding. He stepped away and leveled a serious look at Oikawa.

“And that doesn’t make you nervous?”

“Nervous? I’m terrified! That’s what’s so exciting about it!”

“Oikawa-san… this doesn’t have the potential to blow up the Earth or anything, does it?”

Oikawa laughed and gave Yahaba a firm slap on the back but didn’t respond. Yahaba followed his gaze to the sky, the stars scattered above them and shining so brightly it seemed as if he was looking at a magnificent cityscape. The air had been cool as it rushed in from the ocean, but since he finished writing the symbols into the sand the air had thickened with radiant heat.

“Be careful of your words,” Oikawa whispered, his eyes round and dancing in the glistening starlight. “Anything you say could be picked up as a spell with this much energy surrounding us.”

Yahaba gulped. At that point, there was nothing more to say. The whole world seemed to be holding its breath. The spell written in the sand crackled, spitting out sparks of green light with tendrils of smoke curling from them.

Oikawa startled him when his hand grasped his arm and pulled him back to where one of his camcorders were placed. His face was finally starting to show more nerves than excitement as he licked his lips and focused the camcorder on the spell.

“Here, you keep this one here and I’ll fix the other one on the sky. If only we had more.”

“For what?”

“To record everything that we can. At least I have the sensors already running. Go ahead and start recording!”

“Alright,” Yahaba replied as butterflies erupted in his stomach. He adjusted the view slightly and pressed the red button. He stared at the tiny screen, making sure it picked up every new phenomenon occurring from the symbols in the sand. The bright sparks gradually dissipated as the light grew, radiating like a neon sign in the middle of Tokyo.

The camcorder seemed to be picking up the footage well, but movement above them pulled Yahaba’s attention away. Like a flickering sunbeam catching dust particles in the air, streaks of green light illuminated the sky above them before fading as another streak would appear in another area. All of them seemed congregated above the symbols in the sand, stretching up past wisps of clouds in the sky.

Yahaba’s heart was racing, his breaths coming raggedly as if he’d just run a marathon. Sweat trickled down his cheek as the air around them sizzled.

“Oikawa-san?”

“You feel it too? I was right, the energy is off the charts!”

“We’re not going to die, are we?”

“Um… I don’t think so. Potentially we may be weird for a while.”

“Define weird!”

His voice was lost as an eerie hum increased in volume. The streaks of light were coming quicker and forming together into one blinding beam. Yahaba’s teeth clenched together as the hum escalated into a roar and he clamped his hands over his ears. Something was trickling out of his nose and he didn’t need a mirror to tell him it was probably blood.

The camcorder teetered precariously on its tripod, causing the footage to scramble a little. Yahaba braced it as well as he could with his arm, refusing to lift his hand from his ear otherwise the sound would completely obliterate his eardrum. He glanced at Oikawa whose excited demeanor had at last vanished in lieu of terror.

Yahaba wanted to squeeze his eyes shut and bury himself in the sand, but something kept his eyes glued to the radiating light above him. The pressure, the lights, and the noise were escalating at such a frantic rate, he gasped when everything suddenly stopped for a brief moment. It was blinding when the light flashed and flickered out, only to do it again a moment later. Each time the light pulsed, Yahaba heard a harsh rumble in conjunction with it, almost like the scream of a high-powered sports bike.

The light flashed a few more times, giving Oikawa enough time to write down some observations with his glasses askew on his face. Yahaba rewet his lips and adjusted the camcorder to make sure it was still fixed on the symbols in the sand. His eyes widened when he saw they had vanished, one large symbol etched in green light underneath the pulsating light above it. He didn’t recognize it from any of his studies although the style of it seemed reminiscent of ancient magic. Last he had checked, Oikawa didn’t have much knowledge of that kind of magic. He was more interested in researching _new_ magic rather than the past.

His gaze flew up again as the rumble seemed louder than before and the light flashed bright enough to illuminate the beach for miles. This time the light didn’t fade as a burst of energy flowed through it, crashing into the symbol beneath it and releasing a wave of sand on top of them and all their equipment. Yahaba cried as he fell back, the world spinning with flashes of light and confusing noise before everything went dark.

 

Yahaba wasn’t sure how long he had been out, regaining consciousness as he sputtered out grimy sand and shook his hair free of all lingering granules. He had a splitting headache, not to mention the pain gripping all his other muscles as he tried sitting up. In the dim light, he could just make out Oikawa’s equipment scattered around. He winced hoping that some of it came out of the event unbroken, otherwise they had just cost the university a fortune.

“Oikawa-san?”

An answering groan to his left reassured him his mentor was still alive. He sighed just as another sound was heard nearby; a deep, reverberating growl that caused his hair to stand on end. He fluttered his eyes to adjust them to the dark, allowing him to make out the edge of a crater in the sand, the remnant of the energy burst. His chest seized when a shadowy figure rose from within the crater and then dropped out of sight.

Yahaba’s voice was lost to terror as he crab-walked across the sand toward the last place he saw Oikawa, desperate to find his mentor before whatever was in the crater crawled out of it. He kept his eyes on it just in case until his hand landed on Oikawa’s leg, incurring another groan.

“Shh, Oikawa-san. Get up!” he hissed, digging his fingers into Oikawa’s shin and giving it a firm shake.

“Hmm? What happened?”

“Quiet! There’s something over there and it doesn’t sound friendly.”

He could feel Oikawa’s muscles give a jerk in surprise and at once he was sitting up beside him, readjusting the glasses on his face that miraculously remained intact.

“Where?”

Yahaba pointed toward the crater, his finger trembling as the dark shadow rose above the crater and a pair of eyes opened from within it. Yahaba could hardly breathe as they fixed on him, sharp and suspicious even without a face to give an obvious expression. Another growl rolled toward him through the thickened air, turning his skin to ice.

 


	2. Chapter 2

“Oikawa-san? What do we do?”

“I-I don’t know. I didn’t expect this.”

“Is it what I think it is?”

Oikawa gulped and nodded slowly. “Potentially. It could be extraterrestrial, or it could be an earthly creature but from another dimension. I wish we could communicate with it.”

“Are you sure that’s what you want?”

Yahaba flinched as he heard another growl, this time much closer than before. He turned to see the dark shape had risen out of the deep crater and was slipping along the sand toward them as silent as a shadow. When they made eye contact with each other, the creature stopped and froze. At that distance, Yahaba could pick out the smoky texture of the creature’s skin, if you could call it that. There was no discernible shape to it, and it seemed to be reforming itself every few seconds. 

The only part of it that didn’t change was its eyes. They were wide and slender, as sharp as a blade and seemed to be radiating disgust and fury. Its pupils flickered between Yahaba and Oikawa until a head emerged from the shape, similar to their own, and began to sniff the air. 

Remaining close to the ground, it moved closer to Oikawa as the rest of its body stretched into human shape with two arms and two legs. It lowered its nose and sniffed near his leg but recoiled immediately with several snuffs and a shake of its head. Oikawa made a soft noise of offense but continued to watch the creature warily. Yahaba was too petrified to say anything else for the moment.

He winced when it took a step closer to him and reached its face within an inch of his leg. His skin tingled to see the creature so close to him and he craved to get away, but he had no clue what it was capable of. For all he knew, it could teleport or shoot acid out of its eyes. 

Perhaps he watched too many movies, but what other basis for their situation did they have? Most people who believed aliens really existed were conspiracy theorists. Even Oikawa, who adored science fiction and the idea of aliens, never entertained the idea that they were real. He hardly had time for it with his research and regular teaching job.

Yahaba whimpered as the creature’s nose nudged his leg, closing his eyes as he waited for it to take a bite. Even through his pant leg, he could feel the heat radiating from the alien’s body. 

“Stay still,” Oikawa whispered and hearing the fear in his voice made him wish he had peed before they started the experiment. Never in his life had he experienced something so terrifying and the stress alone from the situation felt like it was going to kill him. His heart was racing painfully fast, sweat beading across his forehead as the creature’s heat poured over his legs. 

_He’s coming closer._

Yahaba tried to take a few last moments to be grateful for the life he had lived so far, for his family and friends, but his mind was achingly blank. It was as if it had been wiped clean and all that filled it was the awareness of the alien’s breath suddenly ghosting over his face. There was a light pressure against his forehead, hot but not unbearable. 

His eyes flew open and all he could see was a face, an almost completely human face. Its skin was still changing hue and texture as the alien rested its forehead against Yahaba’s, his eyes just beginning to grow lovely amber irises beyond its pupils.

_Speak._

Yahaba blinked, not sure why that thought appeared in his mind. When he didn’t say anything, the alien’s newly formed eyebrows furrowed even deeper. Instead of another command appearing in his head, a vision bled into his brain of him and Oikawa whispering to each other almost as if he was watching footage of what happened just a few minutes ago.

“I… I think it wants us to talk.”

He could feel the tension in the alien’s forehead release, and it closed its eyes with a sigh. 

“What do you mean? How can you tell?”

“I think he told me to speak in my head.”

Oikawa gasped and Yahaba could hear him shuffling around beside him. He couldn’t take his eyes off the creature in front of him as it began to look nearly indiscernible from another human. Even a shirt and pants similar to his own began to form over its body. The only part of it not changing color were two rings circling his head, cutting through the freshly sprouted hair that still hadn’t decided what color it wanted to be as it flickered through several options.

“So, you think you have a psychic connection right now? And you understood it?!”

“Yes, or at least I knew what it meant. I can’t even remember if it was a real word.”

“Okay, perfect. Anything else?” Oikawa’s breaths were coming quickly as he spoke and Yahaba could hear the sound of his scribbles on the notepad he kept in his pocket. 

“When I didn’t say anything right away, he placed a vision of you and I talking from a few minutes ago. I think it was what he saw, and he could replay it and transmit it into my head.”

Oikawa whispered a few expletives under his breath. Yahaba could tell he was still terrified out of his wits, but his insatiable curiosity was emerging. As he made a few observations to Oikawa, how he was feeling and the increase of temperature, he felt a stroke against his arm. He glanced down, spying the alien’s fingers lightly rubbing his skin. 

Such an intimate touch would normally make him uncomfortable, but it strangely didn’t feel invasive. He stared down at the alien’s fingers as the texture of its skin began to change. Yahaba’s mouth dropped open as he realized it was mimicking his own; before it had no idea what he felt like. 

He gasped when the alien’s eyes opened again, forgetting it was still so close. Its lips parted and began to move but no sound came out. The alien’s face contorted with frustration and an uncomfortable fizzing filled Yahaba’s mind. It was so strong he wasn’t sure if it was just noise or something more tangible but whatever it was, he wanted it to stop.

“Here,” he whispered and raised his hand to run his fingers gently down the alien’s neck. “Our voice comes from here.”

The fizzing stopped abruptly, and the alien pressed his hands against Yahaba’s throat. He gasped, worried it might throttle him, but it kept a gentle hold as it caressed its thumbs over his throat.

“What’s happening now?”

“I think it’s trying to figure out how to speak.”

“Can’t it communicate telepathically?”

“I think it can, but I don’t think it wants to if that makes sense.”

“It seems to be growing attached to you already. I wonder if their kind bonds quickly. Do you think it’s a motherly thing? Or do you think it wants to mate with you… or eat you?”

“Oikawa-san, please. I’d rather not think about all that.”

“Now _is_ the time to think about it. We should be prepared for anything. Do you feel any hostility coming from it?”

“Not at the moment. I have the feeling it can get aggressive when it’s frustrated, but I don’t think it’s directed at me. At least, not yet.”

“I still can’t believe this is happening. I wish we were recording this. You think he’d freak out if I grabbed a camcorder?”

“I don’t know, but are they still working?”

“They’re pretty hardy. The university doesn’t like to buy delicate equipment even if it’s higher quality.”

Yahaba gasped as the alien pulled away from him, its eyes boring a hole through him as it glared down. Its hands slipped higher and tipped his head back and the way its eyes grazed over his bare neck sent a strange wave of heat flowing through his body. It leaned in as it opened its mouth wide, baring a row of razor-sharp teeth. Yahaba was crippled by his fear and other confusing feelings, unable to move a muscle as a long tongue slipped from the alien’s mouth and licked a hot, wet stripe up the curve of his throat.

A high-pitched whine escaped from him as the tongue passed over his Adam’s apple and the alien flinched back, staring at Yahaba in confusion. Its mouth pursed and opened, making a huffing sound as it tried to form words.

“Wha… whaaat… what was thhhhat?”

“Holy fuck,” Oikawa whispered, and the alien’s eyes darted to him.

“Fuck,” the alien repeated and Yahaba sent an accusing glare at Oikawa.

“Sorry! I didn’t know he was in the repetition stage already. Do you think he knows what he’s saying?”

“Yes,” the alien growled, and Oikawa giggled and clapped with delight. 

“That’s amazing,” Yahaba whispered and the alien turned back toward him, its frown easing slightly.

“Speak to _me_ now.”

“Oh, um, hi.” 

The alien frowned again and cocked his head. “Um… hi.”

“My name is Yahaba Shigeru.”

“Yahaabasheegroo.”

“No, not quite. It’s—”

A distant siren cut through the air and Yahaba felt his blood run cold. Oikawa swore again under his breath and scrambled to his feet, gathering up everything he could. 

“Come on! It’ll only take them a few minutes to reach the beach. Hurry!”

Yahaba pushed the alien off him and began feeling around for the camcorder. If anything they had done was actually illegal, he didn’t want the evidence laying around like a present for the cops. He dug his hands around the sand until he felt one of the tripod legs against his fingers and he immediately yanked it out. 

As he ran toward the back of Oikawa’s jeep, Yahaba felt a presence following behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and startled as he looked straight into the alien’s eyes.

“What are you doing?!”

It hopped back a step, blinking its eyes. “I stay with you.”

“What? I mean, that’s fine, but you don’t have to stay so close.”

The alien growled and hunched its shoulders as a loud clang came from the jeep. Oikawa had unceremoniously dropped his expensive equipment and was already dashing back around the clearing to grab more. Yahaba placed the items in his arms a little more gently into the jeep and turned around, grasping the alien’s shoulder gently.

“It’s okay. Help us clean up?”

The alien frowned until Yahaba gestured toward Oikawa as he filled his arms with equipment. It turned back to Yahaba and grunted which he could only assume meant he understood, so he dashed across the beach to pick up a massive spotlight. He shuffled straight back to the jeep with it since it was so heavy and smiled as he caught sight of the alien grabbing up several sensors from the sand. 

With the three of them working together, they had the beach cleared in no time although several tree branches and a frog had made it in with their equipment as well. As Oikawa slammed the rear door, he and Yahaba gazed at each other for a moment and then looked at the alien. Fear gripped Yahaba suddenly, wondering if perhaps Oikawa was thinking of leaving it behind on the beach. 

Without asking permission, he wrenched open the passenger door and gestured for the alien to get in. 

“I’m not leaving it, Oikawa-san.”

Oikawa cocked an eyebrow at him but said nothing as he climbed into the jeep. The alien seemed to be struggling with what he should do as he hovered above the bench seat with his butt pointing toward the window. Yahaba gently grasped its waist and pulled it around and onto the seat. 

Oikawa started the jeep up and Yahaba was about to jump in when he heard the sirens getting even louder. He stole a glance over his shoulder and saw flashes of red and blue flickering against the tree line circling the far end of the beach. His adrenaline skyrocketed at the sight and he quickly hopped inside next to the alien, slamming the door shut behind him. 

He gripped one hand on the handle above the door and stretched his other arm in front of the alien’s chest as he yelled, “Go Oikawa-san!”

His mentor didn’t need to be told twice as the jeep charged forward. The alien growled deep in its throat but all Yahaba could do was rub his fingers into its shoulder to try to soothe it. Its body was painfully hot against his skin, but it gradually cooled as it relaxed beneath his ministrations. 

It was a rough ride as the jeep bounded over dunes and brush, but after a couple of minutes that seemed like an eternity, they emerged onto a paved road. Yahaba sighed and tipped his head back, taking a moment to calm his wild heartbeat. It wasn’t completely peaceful as Oikawa shifted gears in a hurry, but he was relieved to hear the sirens fading in the distance. He just hoped they didn’t leave any evidence behind.

Just as his heart was beginning to slow down, hot breath against his neck sparked it back up again. Yahaba opened his eyes and glanced at the alien next to him, its face edging closer to his collarbone. He glanced down and noticed his necklace had come loose from his shirt, a golden chain with a talisman on the end of it. It was a good luck charm his grandmother had given him and the alien had taken a certain interest in it.

Yahaba watched as it lifted its fingers and stroked down the gold chain glinting in the light of passing street lamps. Its eyes widened and its lips parted slightly, drawing Yahaba’s attention down to them. They were thin and a consistently drawn down in a frown but Yahaba liked the way they were shaped and marveled at how they could mask all those sharp teeth.

He was startled when the alien pulled his necklace closer to its face to look at it closer. In the dim light, Yahaba could barely see the alien’s hair grow brighter until it was the color of gold, except for the two black stripes that wrapped around its head. Its hair looked soft to touch and he craved to sink his fingers into it but who knew how the alien would react? At least it didn’t seem opposed to touching or being touched.

Its eyes locked with Yahaba’s suddenly, startling him from his thoughts. It dropped the necklace and forced its hand behind Yahaba’s back instead, wrapping it all the way around his body. Yahaba’s breath shuddered as it began slipping the rest of its limbs around him and pulling him close, the heat from its body nearly intolerable. Once it had him in a tight grip, it ducked its head down and nestled it into the base of his neck, proceeding to lick his skin once more.

“Yahaba-kun, you’re not doing anything dirty over there, are you? I just had this jeep detailed.”

“N-No! It’s just, um, licking me again. I don’t think it means it like _that_. I think it’s just figuring things out.”

“Alright, whatever keeps it docile. Why did you insist on bringing it?”

Yahaba closed his eyes, his mind entering a haze as he started to enjoy the alien’s tongue running up his sensitive skin. “Um, I’m not sure. I guess I feel responsible for it. Whatever it is, we brought it here.”

“But we don’t know anything about it. What does it eat? Can it breathe our air? Is it dangerous?”

“Well, it hasn’t died yet, so the air probably isn’t toxic to it.”

The alien ran its tongue around the rim of his ear and Yahaba giggled before he could stop it.

“Are you sure he doesn’t mean to mate with you?”

“We don’t mate first thing,” the alien answered in his deep, rough voice, startling them both.

“Oh, is that so? You court your potential mate first?” Oikawa asked, his eyes sparkling again with interest. 

“Court?”

“Yes, like you do things to attract them.”

“Something like that.”

“What sort of things do you do?”

“It’s a process of bonding, taking care of each other.”

“How do you choose someone?”

“You like how they smell, and it sparks something in you.” As the alien spoke, it nestled its nose into Yahaba’s hair and drew in deep breaths. Yahaba shivered but didn’t pull away. The heat from the alien’s body was making him sleepy and he was only catching a little of what they were saying as he relaxed in the embrace.

“What happens after that spark?”

“You lick each other and start sleeping together for protection.”

Oikawa’s cough startled Yahaba and the alien wrapped him up tighter as he growled in Oikawa’s direction.

“Sorry, um, licking… like how you were licking Yahaba-kun?”

“Yeah… he smelled good.”

“Oh fuck,” Oikawa whispered but Yahaba was already nodding off against the alien’s shoulder, breathing in the comforting scent of the ocean and pine needles.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOL I love how this story is turning out, definitely different from what I expected and it's only the second chapter XD I hope you all are enjoying it so far! Not sure how many chapters there will be at the moment, I'm just kind of letting it flow with a general destination in mind.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday Ash! Obviously, I meant to post this yesterday, but something happened to my brain and I take no responsibility for it XD

“Yahaba? Yahaba-kun?”

_Growl_

“Well, he should wake up, we have a lot to talk about!”

“You can talk later. He’s tired, I can feel it.”

“He can sleep after we talk. You know I’m his boss.”

“Doesn’t give you any right to wake him up.”

“Listen, I don’t know how things work on your planet, but here—”

“Enough, I’m already awake,” Yahaba groaned, arching his back as he stretched. He blinked slowly, suddenly aware that he wasn’t lying down but reclining back on top of someone else, their arms wrapped protectively around his waist. Slowly the events from before trickled into his brain, each memory causing his heart to beat a little faster.

He craned his head around to look behind him. The alien’s eyes darted down to him, his gaze startingly intense even though Yahaba didn’t sense that he was angry. It was odd how human-like the alien had become, his skin and hair changed into a more accurate texture. 

Before he could stop himself, he lifted his hand back. The alien’s eyes widened and Yahaba froze, not wanting to startle it. That made the alien scowl hard and it dipped its head lower to press it against Yahaba’s outstretched hand, much like a cat would force its owner to pet it. 

Yahaba smiled and moved his hand on his own, nestling his fingers into the alien’s golden hair. It was thick and fuzzy, but he was amazed that it was so soft. All he had seen from the alien so far was a hardness; it was refreshing that it wasn’t just that. At least, physically it wasn’t. 

“What’s your name?” Yahaba finally asked as the alien’s face relaxed a little.

“Name?”

“What are you called?”

“Nobody calls me anything.”

“What? Not even your family?”

“What’s a family?”

Yahaba stopped stroking, causing the alien’s mouth to twist down in displeasure.

“It may not think of family the way you and I do,” Oikawa interjected, startling Yahaba. He had forgotten that his boss was still there, and he turned his face to smile apologetically at him. Oikawa didn’t seem irritated however, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of them. “Alien-kun, did one of your kind give birth to you?”

“The ones who birth us don’t stick around. Sometimes we drift around in groups, but I’ve always been a loner.”

“What a surprise.”

“Oikawa-san, don’t be rude.”

“I wasn’t!”

Yahaba straightened up and twisted around, the alien’s arms still fastened tightly around his waist. He glanced down at them, amazed that he hadn’t even tried wiggling out of its hold. Even in past relationships, he was never one to snuggle with his significant other. But for some reason, he felt like he could melt in the alien’s arms… the _alien’s_ arms. Why the hell was he comfortable with a creature from another planet?! Something he knew nothing about.

“We belong together,” the alien whispered, his thumb stroking over Yahaba’s arm.

“We what?”

“We belong to each other. That’s why you’re so comfortable with me.”

“He was reading your mind again,” Oikawa sighed as if he was already some expert who had to catch Yahaba up on the facts. “Apparently, it’s chosen you as its mate. Congratulations! I told you to leave it on the beach.”

“Wait, we can’t be mates.”

“Why not?” the alien asked as pencil-thin eyebrows dug deep over its eyes.

“Because we’re not the same species! I don’t even know anything about you.”

“That’s part of the courting process. We get to know each other as we bond and survive together.”

“Okay, I don’t know what kind of environment you lived in, but that’s not how it works here. It takes very little to survive in our world.”

“You mean... you don’t need me?”

Yahaba gasped as crippling guilt swept through him. Very little of the alien’s expression changed, just a slight tightening of its eyebrows, but he could feel a torrent of emotions behind its stern facade. Unneeded… unwanted… rejected… lonely. The warmth of the alien’s skin seemed to chill with the descent of its feelings and Yahaba felt an urgency to stop it.

“I didn’t mean that!” he said, smacking his hands on the side of the alien’s face. “What I meant was that we do things differently. Obviously, if you’re going to be here, I need to help _you_ survive.”

“Um, Yahaba-kun? What are you talking about?”

Yahaba glanced over his shoulder at Oikawa, not removing his hands from the alien’s face. “While he’s here, I’m not going to let anything happen to him, okay? He’s my responsibility.”

“Listen, as much as I _don’t_ want responsibility, it was my fault that it came here. Right?”

“It might be your fault, but he’s mine to protect.”

“Okay, you and I need to have a little chat in private.”

“In a minute,” he replied and turned back to the alien. He seemed confused as he blinked back at him, but Yahaba could feel the warmth of his skin returning. “We’re going to get this sorted out and I’m going to do my best to protect you, but you need to trust me, okay?”

The alien didn’t answer verbally, nor show any expression change in his face. His skin grew hot beneath Yahaba’s hands and somehow, he got the sense that the alien understood. Not only understood but trusted. Yahaba could feel his own face warming at the idea and knew it was showing by the way the alien’s eyes dropped down to his cheeks.

He cleared his throat and reached down to remove the alien’s arms from his waist. He growled low and deep, but reluctantly he allowed Yahaba to slip away. He folded his arms across his chest and huffed as Yahaba shuffled to his feet, trying not to laugh at the alien’s childish way of pouting. 

“I’ll be right back. Um, try not to… do… anything.”

Yahaba winced at his own statement, but the alien didn’t react at all, so he stepped over his legs stretched out on the floor and followed Oikawa into his kitchen.

“When did we even get here? Did you carry me up the steps?” he asked, glancing around his own kitchen as if he’d never seen it before.

“You were out of it, slept the entire time. The shock was probably too much for you, plus it’s late. The alien carried you up the steps; it wouldn’t let me touch you until I convinced it that I needed to dig out your keys.”

“Why didn’t we go to your place?”

“Your place is less suspicious, Yahaba-kun.”

Yahaba narrowed his eyes. “You just didn’t want to bring an alien into your apartment.”

“Of course not! And you’re the one who wanted to bring it along. Now, what are we going to do about it?!”

“Can we send him back?”

“I don’t even know how we got it here! I need to do some calculations, but it could possibly be months or even years for that kind of magical anomaly to occur again. That was the whole point of the experiment to begin with.” 

“Alright, so first we need to adjust him to our society.”

“Why would we need to do that?”

“Because he’s going to be living here for who knows how long. What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Oikawa’s nose was scrunched, one eyebrow arched higher than the other. It was the sort of face he usually gave to a problem he disliked. Considering Yahaba hated to be a bother, especially to Oikawa, it made him uncomfortable being on the receiving end of such a gaze.

“You called it him.”

“So? He kind of looks like one.”

“We don’t even know if its species has gender! Rude, Yahaba-kun, assuming such a thing.”

“Fine, I’ll add it to the insane amount of questions I have for him,” Yahaba sighed, rubbing his forehead to free himself from his throbbing headache. “Back to the point, we need to protect him and make sure no one finds out he’s an alien.”

“Would that be such a bad thing? As I said earlier this evening, we were doing nothing illegal out there. It was an honest mistake and I’m sure the government would be more equipped to handle an unknown lifeform from outer space than we are.”

“No! Who knows what the government would do? Maybe they’ll trap him in some sort of cage and experiment on him.”

“Yahaba-kun,” Oikawa whispered, stepping closer and grasping his arms, “are you okay? Did this alien do something to you to make you attached to it?”

“I… I don’t know. I can’t explain it. It’s not like I feel I’m being manipulated or anything.”

“It’s not controlling your mind? Do you think you’d be able to tell?” Oikawa asked, moving his head side to side as he peered at Yahaba from different angles. 

Yahaba sighed and shrugged out of Oikawa’s hold. “I don't think so, I still feel like me. It’s almost the feeling I get when I’m in love with someone. Well, maybe not romantic, but loyal would be a better term. Like family.”

“But it doesn't even know what that is.”

“Perhaps when they mate, they create something like a family. I don’t know.”

Oikawa hummed and looked down at his watch. “Listen, I have to get my stuff back to the lab. I don’t want to leave you alone though.”

“I’ll be fine,” Yahaba assured him. “I’ve already had a nap and I’d feel better if we pretended like things were normal. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Alright, I’ll meet you in my office at the usual time. You call me if anything weird happens.”

“I will, I will,” Yahaba assured him, ushering Oikawa out of his kitchen. They both paused in the doorway as they watched the alien shoving one of Yahaba’s shoes into their mouth. It was too large to fit at first, but that posed only a minor problem as he unhinged his jaw and stretched it wider to accommodate the entire length of the shoe.

Oikawa gagged, pressing his hand to his mouth just in case. After a moment, he took a breath and turned to Yahaba. “You’re _sure_ you’ll be okay?”

“Yeah, I didn’t like that pair anyway. I’ll be fine!” he reiterated when Oikawa didn’t look convinced.

“Maybe send me an hourly update.”

“Aren’t you going to sleep?”

“Not likely. It’s fine, you know I rarely sleep when I get really into my experiments. Alien-kun! Please don’t eat Yahaba-kun while I’m away.”

They watched as the rest of the shoe moved down the alien’s throat. As soon as it was down, he burped and cocked his head at them. “Why would I eat him?”

“Just don’t hurt him.”

The alien stood up, eyeing Oikawa warily. “I would never hurt him. I’m supposed to keep him from harm. He’s my mate.”

“Riiight, also put a pin in that mating stuff. Just until we’re sure you’re really… _compatible_.”

“Goodbye, Oikawa-san,” Yahaba said as he began shoving him out the door. 

Just before he closed it, Oikawa stopped it and edged his face in the narrow opening. “Remember, hourly check-ins or I’m calling the authorities.”

“Fine, see you tomorrow.”

With the door shut and locked, Yahaba turned around and fell back against it with a sigh. Even though he felt well-rested, his head was still throbbing. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, taking deep breaths to try to alleviate the pain. 

“Here, let me,” a deep voice said as a pair of hands enveloped Yahaba’s. The alien pulled them away gently and cradled his head, lifting it until they were eye to eye. Fingers grazed over his temples and began to rub, and Yahaba felt his eyes drawing shut once again. He groaned and tipped his head back, feeling the pain slowly ebb away.

“Please don’t stop.”

“I’ll stop when you want me to,” the alien whispered back, his breath tickling across Yahaba’s forehead. 

He gasped when the alien’s body pressed against his, pushing him flat against the door. It was the sort of thing that typically would have spurred Yahaba on to kick the guy in the balls, but he couldn’t feel any sexual intent from the alien at all. There was a comfort in his touch, even as he nestled his head into Yahaba’s neck, and a warm tongue began lapping at his skin. 

Yahaba could feel the alien’s yearning for closeness, for comfort. For Yahaba, however, he was beginning to feel his own sexual intent growing in the pit of his stomach. He whined as the tongue slicked across his sensitive skin, his heart banging loudly against his chest.

“Wait, wait, stop,” he whispered, batting his hands lazily at the alien’s.

To his credit, the alien paused the licking and rubbing and met Yahaba’s gaze. “Do you want me to stop? It doesn’t feel like you do, but you said—”

“I know, it’s probably confusing. Um… how do I explain this? What you’re doing feels good, I do like it. But I can predict that if you keep going, it’ll be… difficult for me.”

“How?”

“Can you just trust me? I can explain everything but there’s still so much we both need to learn about each other.”

The alien grunted and backed away, obviously disappointed. Yahaba smiled; already his expressions were becoming more human. 

“Okay, um, sit down?” he asked, gesturing toward his little table with two chairs on either side. The alien nodded and trudged toward it. Yahaba grimaced as he climbed onto the table and sat on it cross-legged. Rather than correct him, Yahaba pulled out a chair and sat directly in front of him. “First, I need something to call you by. I can’t keep referring to you as _the alien_.”

He shrugged. “Call me whatever you want.”

Yahaba hummed and glanced around the room, hoping a name would just pop out at him. The alien was intense at times, but he realized that most of the time he was pretty chill about things. It reminded him of an old dog he had that was extremely protective over him but would allow Yahaba to do whatever he wanted, whether it was to rub his big belly or give him a bath.

“How about Ken?”

“Ken?”

“Yeah, it’s the name of my old dog.”

“What’s a dog?”

“Um, something you don’t eat. That’ll do for now until I come up with your full name. And you can call me Yahaba for now. Is it okay if I ask you some questions about your species and society?”

“Why?”

“So I can find out more about you. Am I not allowed?”

“I guess that’s fine.”

“Okay, you mentioned that whoever births you just leaves you after that, right? You have no relationship with them? You’re not close to them?”

“No.”

“How do they, uh, conceive?”

“Through mating.”

Yahaba winced, realizing that with other species mating wasn’t always just for sexual pleasure. It wouldn’t have been such a concern if Ken hadn’t already claimed him as his mate. “What is the process for mating? Do you have genders?”

“What’s a gender?”

He was starting to sweat. He could have never imagined it would be so hard describing something that came naturally to humans. Even kids being taught at least had the anatomy in question.

“Okay, when a pair of… _you_ mate, does one of you have a hole and the other a stick that goes into it?” he asked, holding up his fingers to demonstrate. 

The alien scowled deeper, his eyes watching the motion of Yahaba’s index finger slipping in and out of the hole made by his other index finger and thumb.

“No. We don’t have that.”

“Really? Then how do you mate?”

“We bond, skin to skin.”

“Wait, you just touch each other? That’s it?”

“No, it’s a… I don’t know the word for it. Can I show you?” they asked, holding out their palm. 

Yahaba stared at it for a moment, feeling a little queasy about all the possibilities that could come from the experience. “Um, if I touch you, we would be mating?”

Ken hung his head as he snorted. After a few snickers, he looked back at Yahaba with a slight smile remaining on his lips. Yahaba’s face grew warmer, startled by how striking the smile looked on Ken’s face.

“No, it won’t be mating. Our kind doesn’t touch each other often, but those in groups would do this much. When you choose a mate, you touch as much of their skin as possible for as long as you can stand it. I’ve never seen it myself since it’s a private matter, but I know what goes into it,” he said, glancing away bashfully. 

“Okay, so all I need to do right now is to press my hand against yours?”

“Yeah, shouldn’t hurt.”

Yahaba took a deep breath and shuffled to the edge of his chair. His hand was already a little sweaty, so he wiped it on his pants before raising it up. Ken watched him closely but didn’t comment. He bit his lip hard as he pressed his palm to Ken’s, expecting it to bite him or something. Strangely enough, his skin felt the same as his own, warm and fingertips slightly calloused. He wondered if perhaps Ken modeled the texture directly from his own.

“Ready?”

“I guess…”

“Relax,” Ken whispered, drawing Yahaba’s eyes away from their hands pressed together to Ken’s eyes staring back at him. His lips parted with a soft gasp, suddenly aware of things he couldn’t conceive before. He could feel the inner workings of Ken’s body, the current of life flowing through him that was keeping him alive. There was no telling what was happening, or what he was made up of, but Yahaba felt privileged to have some sense of how he worked. Not that he could have described it in any manner.

Pictures flooded his mind, flashes of his own lips, his eye color, a bead of sweat trickling down his neck. His eyes fluttered, confused by the mixture of visions and the sound of his own heartbeat pounding in his brain.

“Shhh, I’m sorry. I got a little carried away,” Ken whispered, and suddenly Yahaba felt a rush of soothing warmth flooding his body. “It might be easier if you shut your eyes.”

Yahaba closed them without question. He didn’t even spare a glance at their connected hands where his skin was beginning to tingle. As long as he wasn’t in pain, it was probably fine. There wasn’t a hint of apprehension inside him, unlike before. The experience was fascinating, both physically and emotionally. 

He could sense Ken’s mind roaming throughout his own, becoming aware of his own physicality and emotions. It should have felt invasive, yet he didn’t feel that way at all. It felt intimate, especially since he was permitted to wander around Ken’s mind as well.

He pushed forward into Ken’s thoughts hesitantly. It was a flurry of excitement, pure joy because he had found Yahaba. The positivity of it was startling, considering what Ken’s face typically looked like and his sharp way of speaking. What was even more alarming was how treasured Yahaba felt as if he was a priceless gem buried in a desert that Ken had been searching for his entire life. 

None of Yahaba’s previous relationships felt like this. He grew close to his partners and occasionally believed he was in love, but there was always doubt and a need for reassurance. No matter what the person was like or how well they fit with Yahaba, for some reason or another, it didn’t work out in the end.

With Ken, it felt like there was no going back. As Ken’s warm breath caressed Yahaba’s face, he opened his eyes to find that he had stood up from his chair without realizing. His palm still pressed against Ken’s, he had slipped his other hand over Ken’s neck, pulling his face closer. Their foreheads touched, Yahaba’s lips opening to connect with Ken’s. Inside Ken’s mind and body was an eruption of chaos. Confusion mixing with excitement was all Yahaba could decipher as Ken tried mirroring Yahaba’s actions. 

As his top lip grazed over Ken’s, he could feel the sharp intake of breath and the presence of Ken’s tongue rising to meet his.

The playful tune of his phone ringer was like a dagger in Yahaba’s brain. He jumped away from Ken with a gasp, his head whirling to find the location of the culprit. Ken spotted it across the room first, his lips snarling as a menacing growl rumbled in his throat. 

Yahaba sighed and gently flicked his forehead. “Enough,” he said softly and immediately the snarling stopped, replaced by a soft huff. Yahaba chuckled as he walked back across the room to fetch his phone. _He really does remind me of my old dog._

“Yes, I’m fine, Oikawa-san,” he said into the speaker before the other party could speak.

“Yahaba-kun, I haven’t received your hourly text. I was worried!”

“Seriously? Has it even been twenty minutes since you left?”

“It’s been an hour and a half! What have you been doing?!”

Yahaba eyed Ken sharply. How long had they been at the weird hand fusion thing? “Um, I guess I got carried away, asking him questions.”

“I hope you’re taking notes.”

“Oh, um, not yet. I’ll start taking some notes.” Yahaba winced as Oikawa’s heavy sigh assaulted his ear.

“Fine, just don’t miss your hourly check-ins this time.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Yahaba ended the call and stared in amazement at the time flashing on his phone screen. Oikawa hadn’t been exaggerating the passage of time. Yahaba pressed his lips together, overwhelmed with embarrassment. 

“Are you alright?” Ken’s voice rumbled in his ear and Yahaba yelped, hopping away with his hands held up in karate chop formation.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that! And no more… touchy weirdness for the rest of the night, okay?”

Ken blinked at him, his emotions unfathomable from his blank expression. “You didn’t like it?”

“It was, um, enjoyable, but I can’t lose track like that again. And I need to keep a clear head with you, it’s screwing me up. Now, you sit on the sofa,” he instructed, pointing his finger in the sofa’s direction. It took a minute of Ken staring at his finger before Yahaba groaned and clasped his arms, guiding him across the room and shoving him down on the sofa. “Don’t move. Don’t eat anything. I need to find my notebook and I’ll be right back.”

Yahaba gave him one last stern look before taking off, scrambling around his apartment in search of a notebook, any notebook. He was starting to regret letting Oikawa leave for the rest of the night. It wasn’t that he worried about Ken hurting him or taking advantage of him; he was obviously too pure hearted to do anything like that. He was more worried about what dark and forbidden things the alien had sparked inside of him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the wonderful comments I've received so far on this, and I hope you all enjoy the rest of the story!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so excited about this one! I've never done a legitimate KyouHaba even though I'm a huge fan of the ship, and I'm definitely on a modern magical universe kick. Hope you all enjoyed the first part!! ✧*｡٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و✧*｡


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